NEWS COMMENT
RECOGNITION
Council wins national public service award
Durham County Council has been recognised for its commercialisation and entrepreneurship at a national awards ceremony .
The local authority was selected as a finalist in two categories at this year ’ s Association for Public Service Excellence ( APSE ) Awards , which celebrates achievements in local government .
Its commercial services team saw an evening of success , having been crowned winners of Best Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship Initiative for their work to commercialise , retain and grow the council ’ s Service Level Agreement ( SLA ) incomes .
The council has worked collaboratively to develop a professional commercial approach to SLA retention and growth across multiple sectors – an agreement which sets out expectations between the service provider and the customer .
Durham County Council has expanded its electric vehicle fleet as part of its aim to achieve net zero .
The local authority has acquired 29 new electric vehicles ( EV ) as part of its vehicle replacement programme , which sees vehicles that are due to be renewed replaced with electric versions .
This includes 24 new midi vans , which will be used across a number of council services including clean and green , strategic waste , and the allotments team .
Five vans are also currently being converted for use by neighbourhood wardens dealing with stray dogs .
These join the electric refuse collection vehicle , eight electric pool cars and two other midi vans already on the fleet .
Cllr Mark Wilkes , Durham County Council ’ s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change , said : “ Reducing carbon
Durham County Council picked up their accolade at the Association for Public Service Excellence ( APSE ) Awards .
The council offers over 70 different SLAs to its customers ranging from payroll , pest control , ICT support to educational teaching support .
Cllr Susan McDonnell , Durham County Council ’ s cabinet member for digital , customer services and procurement , said : “ We are delighted to have been so successful in this year ’ s APSE Awards .
“ The national award is extremely competitive , with more than 300 submissions from local authorities across the UK .
“ Having been recognised in two categories demonstrates the level of achievement our teams make across County Durham .”
The council was also shortlisted for Best Climate Action and Decarbonisation Initiative for its project to decarbonise its Morrison Busty depot and significantly reduce the county ’ s carbon emissions .
COUNCIL EXPANDS ELECTRIC VEHICLE FLEET
Pictured ( from left ): Alex Cummings , Durham County Council ’ s county fleet manager , Cllr Mark Wilkes , cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change , and Oliver Sherratt , head of environment .
emissions within our own services is a key priority for us as we aim to tackle climate change as a county .
“ We are replacing smaller vehicles that are at the end of their use with electric versions , which in the long term will significantly reduce our carbon output as a council , and aim to be able to replace our larger vehicles with EVs in the future . We have also increased our renewable energy production to charge these vehicles .”
TEAM FIRST , ALWAYS
For the past two years we ’ ve been experimenting with the ‘ Stakeholder Model ’, which ultimately means nurturing and guiding our team closely to help achieve our overall business goals .
We have adapted our company ’ s policies , so that they reflect the wants and desires of our workforce , and we ’ ve noticed a huge difference .
A recent survey found that Team BTS are happier and are more confident in their roles ; from a business perspective , we ’ ve seen an increase in productivity – it ’ s a win-win . Transparency and engagement The key to embracing the Stakeholder Model is keeping a workforce engaged and ‘ in the loop ’ with the direction in which the business is going . Open to ideas We have established a ‘ BTS Forum ’, a group of representatives from each department who come together to suggest and discuss ideas for improvement with our managers each month . Work-life balance As a result of the forum , we have adopted a four-day working week policy . We worked closely with all teams to discuss how it would work and made compromises along the way . Throughout the trial period , we kept our team informed with active work and if enough progress had been made – we worked together to make it a success . Share success When the business is thriving , so are our employees . When we make a profit , we share it with the team . Without them , we wouldn ’ t be here .
Essentially , we ’ ve found that since making our workforce paramount to all business decisions , we ’ ve seen increased productivity and efficiency .
Phil Atkinson Managing director , BTS Facades & Fabrications
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